| About the Artist
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I
was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, and am a 1981
graduate of the University of Arizona School of Architecture
in Tucson. I have been practicing architecture in Tucson
since 1981.
Scrimshaw
became a hobby after I received a small scrimmed
tooth in 1979. The first piece was a Gerber knife
that I rehandled with Micarta (picture below — pretty
crude!).
Larry's first knife |
Over
the years, I produced many pieces of jewelry and knives,
usually tearing commercial knives down and rehandling
with Micarta or ivory. A book of knife making taught
me the rudiments of acid etching and leather sheath-making.
During the eighties, many blades from Bob Engnath's
House of Muzzleloading were purchased, constructed,
and sheathed.
There
were several years of hiatus while working and
raising a son. A few years ago, the rusty blade
blanks hanging in the workshop — including two Engnath blades
over ten years old — finally shamed me into
starting up again. One of the blades was a tanto
style, and that led me to attempting my own daisho
(that and the fact I couldn't afford to buy anyone
else's).
Conal, the Overseer |
Conal, the Overseer |
Other
hobbies have included oil painting, acrylics, color
pencil drawings, and model-making. I have a black
belt in Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do, and practice the
long and short staff, escrima sticks, and sword.
In late 2009, I began forging some blades of my own, having taken some forging courses at the local community college. These blades are mostly historical in design, as I like to keep the hammer marks showing.
Larry is currently apprenticing under the auspices of a large and demanding German Shepherd (at right), one of many he has served under over the years.
Please click the Commissions link here or at the top of any page to find out how
to commission a custom piece.
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